Best Actress 2012

Please select your choice for Best Actress of 2012 from among the Academy's nominees

Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
6
17%
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
5
14%
Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
22
61%
Quvenzhané Wallis - Beasts of the Southern Wild
2
6%
Naomi Watts - The Impossible
1
3%
 
Total votes: 36

mojoe92
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by mojoe92 »

I am actually shocked at how little support there is for Quvenzhane Wallis, like for my vote to be the only one she got from the board... hmm?


Jessica Chastain- Was good in ZDT but the biggest draw back for me was the fact that there wasn't a whole lot for her to do. She had one of those roles where EVERY line seemed to be made for the Oscars. The tight, snippy, pitch perfect note, must get it right each take kind of role, also too her lack of screen time in the 2+ hour movie could have honestly put her into the Supporting Category, granted I know she was the lead, but that was not leading actress screen time. Also too with Rooney Mara originally having the role of Mya I feel after knowing how Mara acts in other films that Chastain just wasn't suited for the role

Naomi Watts- Is my 2nd choice for the win, but again she falters with one simple misstep. Not enough screen time to be considered in the leading category. The Impossible itself is an okay film that is blown beyond boredom with the amazing performance that Watts generates in front of the camera. The whole time that she is struggling when the tsunami hits is what garnered her worthiness for an Oscar so come awards night I was shocked when they picked such a boring clip to represent her performance

Quvenzhane Wallis- Is the true winner of this award. I first saw BOTSW back when it premiered at Sundance and even that day when it was done the audience knew that it just watched history being made as we all knew Quvenzhane would become the youngest actress nominee ever. Everyone knew it would be a hard road to get there but it was worth it. The way Q gives off each emotion and line in the film just goes to show the natural and raw talent and beauty of her acting abilities. Show me what other 6 year old can put on a show as perfect and majestic as she did. Quvenzhane will always be the true winner and the most deserving in this category.

Emmanuel Riva- Loved this performance, it is my 3rd choice for the win, but my biggest problem with this is that we have seen this before, Amour feels like a French remake or sequel to 2007's Away From Her. It feels recycled and literally just seems like Riva is playing the older version of Julie Christie. Was she good? Yes. For the win? Definitely not. But she did surpass Chastain and Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence- This is as much as a bull shit win as Octavia Spencer's, Melissa Leo, Anne Hathaway, I mean the list can go on and on. Unfortunately too often do they actually vote for the real talent ( in this category, Quvenzhane) and they are attracted to the popular vote who does the best campaigning. Definitely one of the least deserving wins ever

My picks for the year
1- Quvenzhane Wallis- Beasts of the Southern Wild
2- Marion Cotillard- Rust & Bone
3- Emmanuel Riva- Amour
4- Mary Elizabeth Winsted- Smashed
5- Maggie Gyllenhaal- Won't Back Down

ALTERNATIVES
1- Greta Gerwig- Lola Versus
2- Leslie Mann- This is 40
3- Michelle Williams- Take This Waltz
ITALIANO
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by ITALIANO »

And I am certainly one of those who think that Marion Cotillard should have been nominated. Her performance stayed with me for days after I saw the movie. I would have still picked Riva over her, but it would have been tough.
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by Big Magilla »

ITALIANO wrote:
I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that this film was conceived and begun before Bin Laden's killing, and that for this reason originally it would have had a different, less conclusive ending. And honestly, without such a powerful, admittedly well-shot ending and pay off, I wonder, what would have we been left with? Jessica Chastain's perennially doubtful face - the face of an American woman which can't decide which dress she should buy in a department store? Not enough, I am afraid. They were very lucky.
Yes, it's true. I don't know what the original ending was, but certainly not what it turned out to be. Maybe they would have ended it with her crying over something else.
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by ITALIANO »

Reza wrote: Marco you speak volumes by simply ignoring Watts and the kid.
I'll be honest: I wouldnt even know what to say - about Watts especially.
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by Reza »

ITALIANO wrote:Years ago I met David O. Russell. He was relatively young. He had just made an interesting (if flawed) movie which had been a flop at the box-office in the US, so he was in Europe with his actors to promote it, hoping that here its fate would have been different (it wasn't). He probably liked my questions, or probably simply liked that, despite my very limited English, I preferred to talk directly to him without the help of the translator. Anyway, he was very honest, during and after the interview, and I appreciated that. He was - and I hope he still is - an obviously intelligent man. He was also an obviously unhappy man - in America, unlike in Europe, a commercial failure can destroy a director's career. He was clearly angry at Hollywood, and I felt that he was a man who really wanted to express his individual voice rather than submit to typical American conventions. I know, he might have just played the role of the "misunderstood auteur" knowing that we Europeans would have loved that, but I actually think he was very sincere, that he was being himelf during that distant winter meeting of so many years ago. I had the impression that in the future, if he had been given the chance, he could have made even more personal, challenging movies, movies that I would have loved to watch, that would have made me think.
I was wrong. He has made The Fighter and now Silver Linings Playbook - movies which win Oscars (he will definitely win one for Best Director soon). I'm sure that he's happier now. I am not, but I am certainly wiser - I now know that in that context (I dont want to say America again, this can be probably applied to other cultural contexts) one sooner or later has to give up and conform. Because really, there's nothing in Silver Linings Playbook, such a predictable, "clever" effort, complete with final dancing contest, that I could even vaguely relate to the man I met that day. And of course there's nothing in Jennifer Lawrence's performance that I find in any way remarkable (except her ass, which the director clearly loves - now THAT could have been his most personal touch in the whole movie). In Europe such a performance would never win awards.

Jessica Chastain's performance probably would. Her character, at least, would. On paper, it could have been a potentially interesting portrayal of an obsession. The problem is - Jessica Chastain can't play obsessed. You look at her pensive face and there's something missing - she simply can't sustain the movie, the scope of the movie. It's a pity. Also - I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that this film was conceived and begun before Bin Laden's killing, and that for this reason originally it would have had a different, less conclusive ending. And honestly, without such a powerful, admittedly well-shot ending and pay off, I wonder, what would have we been left with? Jessica Chastain's perennially doubtful face - the face of an American woman which can't decide which dress she should buy in a department store? Not enough, I am afraid. They were very lucky.

There's only one possibility here. Emmanuelle Riva - a detailed, painful portrayal of old age and decay, executed with almost surgical precision, and without any trace of sentimentalism. There's a great director behind it, of course - but there's also a great actress, using the experience of a lifetime, subtracting rather than adding, with that aim for the essential which probably comes only with maturity. It's also an unusually unnarcissistic turn - one that the Academy was courageous enough to recognize, but not TOO courageous.
Marco you speak volumes by simply ignoring Watts and the kid.
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by ITALIANO »

Years ago I met David O. Russell. He was relatively young. He had just made an interesting (if flawed) movie which had been a flop at the box-office in the US, so he was in Europe with his actors to promote it, hoping that here its fate would have been different (it wasn't). He probably liked my questions, or probably simply liked that, despite my very limited English, I preferred to talk directly to him without the help of the translator. Anyway, he was very honest, during and after the interview, and I appreciated that. He was - and I hope he still is - an obviously intelligent man. He was also an obviously unhappy man - in America, unlike in Europe, a commercial failure can destroy a director's career. He was clearly angry at Hollywood, and I felt that he was a man who really wanted to express his individual voice rather than submit to typical American conventions. I know, he might have just played the role of the "misunderstood auteur" knowing that we Europeans would have loved that, but I actually think he was very sincere, that he was being himelf during that distant winter meeting of so many years ago. I had the impression that in the future, if he had been given the chance, he could have made even more personal, challenging movies, movies that I would have loved to watch, that would have made me think.
I was wrong. He has made The Fighter and now Silver Linings Playbook - movies which win Oscars (he will definitely win one for Best Director soon). I'm sure that he's happier now. I am not, but I am certainly wiser - I now know that in that context (I dont want to say America again, this can be probably applied to other cultural contexts) one sooner or later has to give up and conform. Because really, there's nothing in Silver Linings Playbook, such a predictable, "clever" effort, complete with final dancing contest, that I could even vaguely relate to the man I met that day. And of course there's nothing in Jennifer Lawrence's performance that I find in any way remarkable (except her ass, which the director clearly loves - now THAT could have been his most personal touch in the whole movie). In Europe such a performance would never win awards.

Jessica Chastain's performance probably would. Her character, at least, would. On paper, it could have been a potentially interesting portrayal of an obsession. The problem is - Jessica Chastain can't play obsessed. You look at her pensive face and there's something missing - she simply can't sustain the movie, the scope of the movie. It's a pity. Also - I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that this film was conceived and begun before Bin Laden's killing, and that for this reason originally it would have had a different, less conclusive ending. And honestly, without such a powerful, admittedly well-shot ending and pay off, I wonder, what would have we been left with? Jessica Chastain's perennially doubtful face - the face of an American woman which can't decide which dress she should buy in a department store? Not enough, I am afraid. They were very lucky.

There's only one possibility here. Emmanuelle Riva - a detailed, painful portrayal of old age and decay, executed with almost surgical precision, and without any trace of sentimentalism. There's a great director behind it, of course - but there's also a great actress, using the experience of a lifetime, subtracting rather than adding, with that aim for the essential which probably comes only with maturity. It's also an unusually unnarcissistic turn - one that the Academy was courageous enough to recognize, but not TOO courageous.
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by Okri »

Of those not nominated, I'll mention Kiera Knightley (who I'm increasingly fond of, quite unexpectedly), the duo from Your Sister's Sister, Nina Hoss from Barbara, and especially Marion Cotillard (and I don't get Rust and Bone as misery porn at all. Frankly, it's so defiantly uplifting that so many critics shallowly wrote it off based on that)

Eventually caught up with The Impossible, but didn't enjoy it. Not that I gave it much of a chance. Watts didn't impress me, but she rarely does. I enjoyed Wallis for her force, but as many have mentioned, it's hard to see what she does.

I'm one of those that carped at the casting of Lawrence, I won't deny. She's got terrific chemistry with Cooper, but I think she's miscast enough that the film suffers overall anyway (I remember finding the first date scene just horribly off acting/writing wise, and she's mainly the reason why).

Chastain's definitely more intriguing, but I have to admit I don't remember as much about her performance as I would've hoped.

So my vote goes to Riva. It's a ferocious performance. Yes, I think Trigtniant/better is her equal and he should've been nominated too, but seriously - she's still remarkable.
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by Bog »

Year in year out I find myself thinking trends won't continue and always I find myself with an excessive amount of naivete on display. Much like Magilla I thought the perfect storm of being the oldest nominee, paired with the youngest, birthday the night of the ceremony, word out she would show at the ceremony, insanely respected, not obscure film.

To no avail, hot young perky breasted females take both awards

This is the third easiest vote for me in the last 15 years behind only Sissy and Christie... ironically my favorite ( overall) acting performance each of the three years was the male lead in the respective films. So called strong years for lead categories seem to only hurt the male side with Pinsent and Trintignant not even grabbing a nomination, while Wilkinson lost to Crowe dreck.

Riva in a landslide, which I think is quite something because Lawrence and Chastain were great, while Wallis and Watts werenothingto sneeze about whatsoever.
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by bizarre »

Émilie Dequenne / Our Children
Jennifer Lawrence / Silver Linings Playbook
Noémie Lvovsky / Camille Rewinds
* Emmanuelle Riva / Amour
Saskia Rosendahl / Lore
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by The Original BJ »

I was pretty happy with the way this category turned out on nomination morning, because I was excited for the on-the-bubble candidates who made it in despite missing with the precursors, and glad voters resisted the urge to default to people like Helen Mirren and Judi Dench for such uninspiring movies.

Naomi Watts is, indeed, the least impressive, though Mister Tee makes a good point that it's easier to take this nomination as an amend for the Mulholland Drive snub. I like Watts quite a bit overall, but this role struck me as a lot of crying and screaming, not a lot of character. A lot of my actor friends raved about this performance, but I didn't find it any more unique than other similarly grueling roles.

I'm right on the fence with respect to Wallis. Some folks praised her work as if she was some kind of acting savant, fully formed at Meryl Streep level by age six. From a basic craft standpoint, I didn't remotely see what those people saw. But, at the same time, I wasn't a detractor either -- the kid had a really unique energy, and a naturalism that was very pleasing to watch. And there are moments ("Don't you talk about dying!" & her last scene with her father) which I find hard to argue WEREN'T real acting. I'm fine with her nomination, but I can't grade Best Actress on a curve, and I turn toward more experienced thespians for my vote.

It's interesting how Jennifer Lawrence has managed to become such a quickly beloved new film personality when her most significant roles to date (Winter's Bone, The Hunger Games, and Silver Linings Playbook) have all been fairly glum. Obviously, her beauty and charming off-screen antics have increased her appeal, but I do think much of her meteoric rise has to do with audiences responding to her genuinely impressive acting talent. And that's on full display in Silver Linings, in a performance that showcases quite a bit of range, from the heartfelt (her monologue about her husband's death) to the hilarious (telling off Robert De Niro). Yes, she was too young for her part...but...okay. That seems like a minor quibble in the face of such well-rounded work. She doesn't get my vote -- I'm still looking forward to seeing where she goes as an actress -- but I wasn't bothered by her win.

The trickiness of Jessica Chastain's role has to do with the fact that, although she's on-screen a lot in Zero Dark Thirty, we don't really ever learn that much about her character. And so the actress has to find a way to create a compelling person without having much backstory upon which she can rely. I think her approach was hugely effective -- she essentially portrays Maya as someone who HAS no life outside of her pursuit to find bin Laden. And throughout the movie, the actress shows just how this single-minded approach has taken its toll on her character -- physically, mentally, emotionally. I think that final shot is glorious -- you can almost feel the weight of the world lifted from her, as well as the complicated feeling that, after she ultimately accomplished all she had been working toward for much of her life, what does she do now? This is strong work from another actress I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of.

But I voted with the majority for Emmanuelle Riva. The early scenes in Amour are so crucial, because they establish her character as a warm, intelligent woman, not without her regrets, but who has developed a long, deep relationship with a husband she loves very much. When she starts to lose her health, we really get a sense of just what is being lost. Amour is such a powerful, painful movie because we realize, pretty early on, that there is no way this story will have a happy ending. Riva's condition will get worse, and then she will die. Period. Riva's work here is so honest and brave, a raw depiction of a woman losing her mental and physical capabilities, that it's very difficult to watch, but nearly impossible to look away. I think her work cuts to the bone emotionally more than any other actress here, and she deserved the Oscar for her late career triumph.
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by ksrymy »

My picks
____________________
1. Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
2. Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
3. Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea
4. Marion Cotillard, Rust & Bone
5. Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

6. Helen Hunt, The Sessions
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by Mister Tee »

I actually thought we'd hold off on these till we finished our best picture survey -- though, now that I think about it, that could be so far off we'll be in the thick of another best actress race by then.

I was on the whole satisfied with the best actress slate this year. Not that I thought them a stellar bunch, but, of the available choices, I thought the five the Academy came up with were the most pleasing (unless, of course, they'd challenged the category fraud and put Helen Hunt in lead where she belonged). I'm perfectly a fan of Helen Mirren, Rachel Weisz, and, to a lesser degree, Marion Cotillard...but Hitchcock was ho-hum, I didn't care for the modern/arty spin on The Deep Blue Sea, and I found Rust and Bone pointless misery porn on the Biutiful level.

Of the nominees:

Naomi Watts probably was least deserving -- I'm honestly not sure how she got the attention -- but she's been denied merited spots in the past, so I was fine with her being the filler.

I neither adored Beasts of the Southern Wild like the early response indicated I would, nor despised it at the level Magilla and some others have. I thought it was fine. It's hard to judge a young child's performance, especially one in such a unique role. Again, given the level of competition, I'm content that Wallis took the slot, but she doesn't figure into my voting.

For me, the other three are pretty equal candidates, in three of my favorite films of the year. I don't think any one stands out to the degree so many people here seem to think; I could have lived with any of the three winning.

I can certainly understand (and, in fact, expected) the trend to Riva, but I just don't think the performance is the miracle many appear to have witnessed. For me, she was very good in the earlier part of the film, and then (appropriately) retreated into something like catatonia. I guess many see some sort of magic in her not-appearing-to-do-anything, but, for me, at that point, less was less; I felt it became Trintignant's movie in the final third. What Riva did early on was enough to make her a worthy winner, but the diminishment of her role made her, for me, not an undeniable one.

I agree that Jennifer Lawrence was miscast simply at the level of not looking old enough to have endured all she was supposed to have prior to the film's action. But, honestly, who cared after a while, when she was so damn wonderful in the part? She and Cooper played terrifically off one another -- funny but cutting deep at the same time -- and made the movie something more than a romantic comedy.

But I voted for Lawrence in 2010, and I'm not quite ready to make her a two-time winner in my book. So, I go to Jessica Chastain, who had the only truly dominant female lead role in any mainstream film of 2012. I couldn't disagree more with Sabin on Zero Dark Thirty as a whole -- I think it's the year's best film, hands down. And I disagree with his take on Chastain's performance, as well. I think she's bravely astringent in the role -- so determined in her pursuit that she doesn't have the time or inclination to make nice with anyone along the way. It's not a transcendent performance -- no female work last year for me matched the level of what Day-Lewis, Phoenix or Waltz achieved. But in among this group, she stands out for me, and gets my vote.
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by Precious Doll »

Riva by a mile.

I loathed Naomi Watts and her tepid film.

Jennifer Lawrence,despite being miscast, is the one watchable aspect of the otherwise insufferable SLP.

Magilla summed up Quvenzhané Wallis nomination perfectly.

I like Jessica Chastain. She is one of the most magnetic younger actresses working today and whilst there is nothing particularly wrong with her work in ZD30, there is nothing particularly note worthy either. If there was an aspect that annoyed me was the last shot of Chastain crying. It felt like nothing more then a cliche, a way for Bigelow to end her film and nothing more. Tsai Ming-laing's 1994 Vive L'Amour used the exact same image to the convey emotional disengagement of his characters, particularly his female lead.

My choices for 2012 tended to be actresses who were not eligible or were placed in the wrong category:

1. Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)
2. Helen Hunt (The Sessions)
3. Margarete Tiesel (Paradise: Love)
4. Deborah Mailman (The Sapphires)
5. AnnaLynne McCord (Excision)
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by rudeboy »

I haven't seen The Impossible. My parents loved it.

I was surprised seeing Zero Dark Thirty just how little Chastain did in the movie. Quite a long film, and she's around for most of it, but seems to spend much of her screentime standing in the background with her arms folded. She has a couple of big dramatic scenes which she does well enough, but this is not award material.

Wallis is cute but forgettable in a film I didn't care for. Lawrence is fine but outshone by Bradley Cooper - and again, the movie as a whole didn't work for me.

Riva all the way. She's sublime in a tricky, unshowy part. It was a travesty that she lost; even more of a one that the arguably even better Trintignant was overlooked entirely.

Of the most widely-touted also-rans Mirren was very good in a mediocre film but Cotillard did nothing to catch my attention in a film I found to be perhaps the worst of the year.

As usual I'm way behind on last year's films but also worthy of consideration, I guess, are Helen Hunt (clearly a lead in The Sessions) and Lizzy Caplan, who I thought was pretty wonderful in the otherwise dire Bachelorette.
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Re: Best Actress 2012

Post by mlrg »

voted for Chastain
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